FOR PEACE AND WAR. 35 



propagation and culture should be based upon sound effec- 

 tive princij)les, and not entirely left to the exercise of 

 custom or individual taste. Surely it is not because we see 

 sample horses of the grandest type of form and action — 

 " the poetry of motion " itself — that those desirable qualifi- 

 cations are generally apparent. Look at the supply of 

 candidates for prizes at the different horse shows, and those 

 "judges " whose age and experience can run them back to a 

 quarter of a century ago or more, can tell that for every 

 single show horse, or rather prize horse, now exhibited, 

 many might have been then. Look at our cavalry reo-i- 

 ments — the lancer and hussar ones have smart active 

 animals — seldom complete in numbers ; and the heavy 

 dragoons and artillery inefficiently horsed in quality, power, 

 and numerical strength. Go amongst " the dealers " who 

 supply hacks and harness horses. What represents a 

 majority of their studs ? Foreign importations ! Not from 

 choice, but of necessity ; for they will frankly tell inquirers 

 "there are no horses in the country." Literally, horses are 

 numerous enough, but of that sort which the critical 

 acumen of a good judge would select for the London mar- 

 ket, there is positively an alarming dearth. 



From that once great prolific nursery for England's war 

 horses and fashionable stable, Ireland, comes mainly and 

 materially this heavy national misfortune. The Committee 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society, appointed to enquire 

 into the reported degeneracy of horses, &c., quotes Ireland 

 prominently, because minute enquiries afford returns with 

 full exemplification, not obtainable at present throuo-h- 

 out the great breeding districts of England ; and it is well 

 established that a majority of the superior horses sold out 

 of the great horse breeding districts in England are animals 

 imported from Ireland at an immature age. It is not, then, 

 Her Majesty's Government alone that is interested in the 



